This invention relates to a business form such as a label, tag or the like which is provided with color coded information. More particularly, the invention relates to a thermally imagable business form containing on its surface a plurality of different colored areas in which selected colored areas may be obscured by thermal imaging.
In the design and use of business forms, labels, tags, and the like, it is desirable to present information in an organized fashion so that information may be readily assimilated. For example, forms typically use headings or columns to identify different categories of information. Lines, rules, and screened areas are also used to delineate specific areas of information.
Color has also been used on business forms to delineate or differentiate information. For example, multipart forms, with each part being printed on different colored paper, have been in use for many years. The different color of each part of the form designates to whom that part is to be given or sent. Others have used different colored forms, labels or tags to designate, for example, different methods of shipment of packages. As with multi-part forms, however, this method of designation requires that the user maintain an inventory of each different colored form, label, or tag.
To better differentiate categories of information, preprinted screened background areas are often printed in selected colors. One known method used for producing different colors is to apply colored inks during the printing process when the forms are being manufactured. However, such preprinted colored forms are limited in that the arrangement of colors on each form is fixed, which prevents an end user from customizing the form. For example, it may be desirable for an end user to use different colors to provide a color code for each individual form which designates different categories of information.
Color printers can easily perform a color coding function as they can print many different colored images on a substrate at the same time other variable information is added to the form. However, such printers are expensive and slow to operate, thus making them impractical for most automated systems.
It is also possible to achieve colored images from the use of self-contained, carbonless coatings which produce colored images upon the application of pressure such as that from an impact printer. Such coatings are well known, and typically contain dispersed color developers and initially colorless leuco dyes contained in solution within microcapsules. However, in order to provide multiple colors on a form, a separate coating must be applied for each desired color.
Accordingly, there still exists a need in the art for a business form which can be provided with color coded information as well as other printed information by an end user with the use of a single station printer.